The Problem

Globally, thousands of NGO's tackle myriad problems aimed at improving student education. However, holistic understanding and solutions are often not applied which inefficiently solves the problems they have set out to address. We aim to change this problem by employing a unique, 3 pronged, holistic solution which addresses: Access, Nutrition, and Curriculum. Through this approach "The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts."

Acces to Education

Today, over 60 million primary school-aged children are not in school. Of those, 25.6 million are not in school due to distance as a barrier to education.

Nutrition

Of the 66 million primary school children who attend classes hungry every day, 23 million are in Africa.

Literacy and Curriculum

According to UNESCO, globally, 780 Million Youth and Adults still cannot read and write and 250 million children are failing to acquire basic literacy skills. This failure negatively impacts literacy, the number one predictor of academic success.

The Solution

We empower educational attainment through mutually beneficial partnerships that promote our holistic research based approach of: Access, Nutrition, and Curriculum.

Research

Our think tank was conceptualized to provide university students with the opportunity to meaningfully engage in academic research that mutually benefits their respective areas of academic pursuit while also vertically integrating the research for our organization.

Our Model

Our three-pronged approach ensures that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Access: Sponsor Scholars and provide School Buses

Nutrition: Chicken Coops, Water Catchment and CSA Gardens.

Curriculum: Solar Powered Classrooms

Implement / M&E

Once our projects are implemented, they are monitored and evaluated on an ongoing basis.

Our Models Impact: Access, Nutrition, Curriculum

This three-prong approach of Access, Nutrition, and Curriculum helps students get to school, ensures they’re well fed, and improves their curriculum.

Impact: Access

Our Access initiative has two key components: 1. Helping students get to school through transportation infrastructure (school buses) which also generate funds for the communities they support. 2. Sponsoring TWSB Scholars. These scholars are chosen following two criterion; high academic achievers who come from low socioeconomic backgrounds. This way, we ensure the greatest ROI with our scholar's education.

4650

Monthly Rides Given

16

Scholars Presently Presented

Impact: Nutrition

Our nutrition program focuses on three areas: Water Catchment Systems, CSA Gardens, and Chicken Coos. Through this model, we're able to provide small, self-sustaining investments that improve overall nutrition.

50,876L

Litres of water harvested/ Month

100 lbs

Iron-rich vegetables produced/month

Impact: Curriculum

Our curriculum program is geared towards improving student literacy, the number one predictor of academic success. We use a variety of novel methods which include leveraging a reading app called SiMBi, distributing our own intranet systems that provide access to educational resources, and building off-grid classrooms that utilize the aforementioned technologies.

4000

Students with access to quality education

8

Classrooms constructed

Cost of Project Infrastructure per Community

The costs below reflect The Walking School Bus hard cost of implementing our 3-pronged approach in each additional community. These costs solely reflect the cost of

Access | Scholars

$15,000 | $5000 = $20,000

Access Initiative:

Nutriton: H20 | Coop | CSA

$1000 | $2000+6m Feed | $1000 = $4000

Nutrition Initiative:

Curriculum

$25,000

TWSB Classroom Initiative:

Total Cost =$49,000 USD

Growth Model: 2020

Our growth model focused on scaling impact by generating more research, furthering community development and increasing the number of TWSB Expeditions.

Research:

20 → 80 Researchers

10 → 30 Researcher Institutions

24,000 hours spent researching

Community Development:

Access:

1 → 8 School Buses

15 → 150 Scholars

Nutrition:

5 → 40 Water Catchment Systems

3 → Chicken Coops

3 → 20 CSA Gardens

Curriculum:

8 → 32 Classrooms

5 → 100 Intranet routers distributed

Expeditions:

4 → 20 Expeditions

2 → 6 Countries

33 → 100 ChangeMakers

Expedition Funds Generated :

$50,000 → $120,000

The Team

Aaron Friedland

Executive Director Aaron developed his passion for economic development and education while working and researching abroad. He recognized that students in places such as Uganda, South Africa, and India who struggled academically would often fall into the poverty trap. His personal experiences opened his eyes to myriad barriers to education including distance to school and lack of nutrition. These experiences in conjunction with his work at UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-profit taught him a great deal about education in developing countries and gave him the foundation to create an organization called The Walking School Bus, which aims to help students worldwide access education. In addition to founding the organization, he serves as the Executive Director. Aaron currently works as an Economics Lecturer. He brings enthusiasm and a research-based approach to his teaching. He is passionate about motivating his students through experiential learning, a model that he has applied in the classroom as well as at TWSB through a global reading program and various nutrition initiatives.

Poonam Gill

Chief Operating Officer Poonam Gill has over 6 years of sales and business development experience working with Fortune 500 companies across various industries. She has developed a skill set to identify new opportunities, build pipelines to fuel growth, deliver significant brand enhancement and execute strategic plans. She’s also skilled in cultivating and maintaining relationships with prospects and constituents. She has an MBA from Hult International Business School and a Bachelors of Commerce, specializing in entrepreneurship from the University of Victoria. The biggest life lesson she’s learned thus far comes from her grandfather’s philosophy of always giving back more than you take. This pursuit is reflected in her experience working with nonprofit organizations and her most recent works as a consultant for nonprofits across North America in providing cloud-based technology solutions to business challenges. Poonam recently joined the team as the COO and will work closely with the Executive Director to create the strategic 5-year plan and implement new processes and approaches on achieving our mission and goals.

Sukriti Sachar

Director of India Operations Sukriti is a founder, entrepreneur, and is passionate about social impact. After working in corporate events for 7 years, Sukriti fo unded Powerlabs, a content design studio. Her journey with The Walking School Bus (TWSB) began in 2016 which started with a Ugandan Expedition and resulted in Sukriti founding the India Chapter of TWSB. Working with communities content with the limited resources available to them and appreciative of TWSB's impact moved Sukriti. She became more interested in adapting the model that worked in the Ugandan context to fit similar issues pervasive across India. As director of India Operations, Sukriti works to further her remarkable team of believers and achievers to bring the life and vision of The Walking School Bus to India.